White smoke! Behn is the new IA Sen GOP Leader

After a disappointing special election loss on Tuesday, the two dozen Republicans who serve in the Iowa Senate have selected a new leader: Jerry Behn.

Behn, a Republican from Boone, is the new Minority Leader in the Iowa Senate. Behn, a 57-year-old farmer who briefly ran for governor in the last election, was first elected to the state senate in 1996.

In late September another senator (Bill Dix, Iowa Senate class of 2010) had tried to force a leadership election amid charges that former Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley was not aggressively managing the campaign of the Republican running in a special election for an eastern Iowa senate seat. McKinley announced last week he would step down as leader and this past Tuesday the Democrat in the race won the seat, finishing 12 percentage points ahead of the Republican candidate.

UPDATE: Here’s the Radio Iowa story, with comments from Behn and from Governor Branstad.

Masthead Photo

The masthead photo was taken by Roger H. Goun and used here with his permission. No, that's not O.Kay Henderson's hand but we liked the image a lot. Thanks, Roger.

About O.Kay Henderson

Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award. More »